Towards borderless rail travel - Amadeus Rail Forum: day two

Following the Day 1, the Amadeus Rail Forum continued on Friday with a focus on innovation in technology. Keep on reading to get a recap of the Amadeus Rail Forum second day.

The role of travel innovation

Amadeus’ Murray Mazer, Head of Innovation and Research, presented the key aspects of successful innovation: it’s not enough simply to have a vision – a channel to market is necessary to deliver on value.

He outlined the role of innovation in the travel, explaining how technology trends such as big data in the travel industry or personalization are changing dramatically the way we interact with customers.

The biggest game-changer innovations

After Mazer’s presentation. we had a panel discussion on innovation and, specifically, the rail sector. Where Amadeus’ Francisco Pérez-Lozao joined Deutsche Bahn’s Mathias Hüske, Amadeus' Francesca Benati, Frédérique Ville from Voyages-SNCF.com, and Matthissa Hahn of ÖBB. The panel presented the question, “What has been the biggest innovation in travel over the past 10 years?". There was a consensus that it is internet and the mobile adoption, that has radically transformed travel.

Big data in the travel industry

We also had time to look at how big data in rail can transform the global travel industry. Pascal Clement, Head of Travel Intelligence, Amadeus, explained how railways could use big data. For example, it could give railways deeper passenger behavior knowledge. that will allow them to:

Assess air-rail connection potential,

Plan partnerships and interline agreements and,

Discover trends in demand for new services.

The 2014 Forum ended with the debate moderated by Christopher Clarke from Kwittken, representatives from Ebookers, WESTbahn, Thalys and BeNe Rail International joined The Man in Seat 61 and Thomas Drexler, to debate what borderless rail travel really means, and how it can best be achieved.

Amadeus Rail Forum highlights - Day 2

Thank you to all our speakers and everyone who joined the event!

Thanks also to those who followed and participated on Twitter at #RailForum14. We look forward to the next Amadeus Rail Forum!

Subscribe blog notifications

Changing Tracks

Given all of the ongoing interest and investment, the future looks bright for rail operators across Asia Pacific. We have identified five make-or-break factors for rail travel in Asia Pacific to uncover the true potential of rail.